


Stuck with you

by Justafewthingstosay



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, Rated T for swearing, Soulmate AU, cause I was sad, this is a dumb soulmate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-04-07 04:17:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19077328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justafewthingstosay/pseuds/Justafewthingstosay
Summary: Ned had never been to Amnesty Lodge before, never before had he seen the beautiful server that worked there. If he had known that he was going to be stuck in time with him for almost a month, he wouldn't have picked midnight.





	1. Tea at night

**Author's Note:**

> so here it is, I hope it's alright. English is not my first language, so if things sound weird, shoot me a message and I'll fix them!

He really should have brought the map. Victoria had told him that Kepler’s dirt roads can be tricky to someone who hasn’t lived here for long, but no, Ned “Dumbass” Chicane, how she liked to call him, had said he was going to be fine, he wasn’t going to take a wrong turn, he wouldn’t get lost. But that was, what he was now. Lost.

It was around twenty to midnight when he took a right turn into a road that looked more like a driveway than a road and to his luck, it was.

Before him, there was a beautiful wooden building with a sign, proclaiming that said building was called “Amnesty Lodge”.

Most of the lights in the Lodge were turned off, probably because it was almost midnight on a Wednesday, but he saw one room illuminated with a figure moving around. So he got out of the car and started walking towards the lodge.

The front was unlocked, which surprised Ned, but it didn’t surprise him as much, as the man that running around the foyer of the lodge.

He looked around the same age as Ned, probably late 30’s, he had dark skin and even darker hair that was just a little too long, so that it fell into his face. A short, well-kept beard framed his face. The man turned to him and gave him a warm smile.

“Welcome to Amnesty Lodge, you can count yourself lucky, I was gonna lock that door in a minute, how can I help you?” the man spoke and he had a nice voice, warm and deep.

“Hi, I’m Ned, I think I’m lost,” he announced with a little too much confidence and the man laughed.

“Aren’t we all, Ned? Aren’t we all?” he walked over towards Ned and extended his hand. “I’m Barclay, I’m the cook here at the lodge, can I offer you a room for the night? Or is the place you wanted to go in Kepler, ‘cause then I can probably help ya find it,”

Ned thought about it, he really didn’t want to go back to the Cryptonomica tonight, he knew almost no one here in Kepler, except Duck and Victoria, so he decided he was going to try to make another friend.

“It’s in Kepler, but I really don’t feel like driving anymore and I have some cash on me, so if a room isn’t 300 dollars per night, I think I’m gonna stay,”

Barclay smiled, “A room is 20 dollars a night, so you’re good, can I get you anything or do you want to go to bed immediately?”

“A whiskey, if you have, would really tickle my fancy right now”

“Coming right up” with those words, Barclay disappeared from the room and walked through a door, that probably leads into the kitchen.

Before Ned could even look around to find a seat, Barclay’s appeared in the crack of the door to the kitchen. “Do you wanna drink it in the kitchen? I still have some stuff to do in there and I don’t know if you want to sit out here alone drinking or if you wanna have company.”

At the promise of ‘company’ Ned caught himself smiling, he hadn’t really shared a drink with someone in the middle of the night, since the incident with Boyd, so he accepted and followed Barclay into the kitchen.

Said Kitchen was extremely organised, the different cabinets had small colourful sticky notes on them, declaring what was in them, probably for the new guests. The counter was spotless and on the small windowsill behind the sink were five little flower pots with different spices growing in them.

Ned sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the table in the middle of the kitchen and Barclay put the glass of alcohol in front of him, with a smile. “I’d ask for an ID, but I think that’s unnecessary,” he walked past Ned, who snorted quietly. “I’m just gonna quickly lock the front doors to the Lodge, don’t want another stranger to show up here in the middle of the night.” With those words, Barclay was gone and Ned said there, at a strangers table, holding his whiskey and studying the kitchen around him a little more.

On one wall were a few pictures and he stood up to take a look at them. Some showed a bigger group of people, all smiling into the camera, some showed Barclay with a woman probably a few years older than him, she was wearing a leather duster on all of the pictures, but in the one Ned was looking at right now, Barclay was wearing said duster and the woman was wearing a Chewbacca costume. It looked like it was a Halloween celebration.

As Ned looked at the picture, his heart hurt for a moment, he couldn’t remember the last time that he just celebrated a holiday. Most of the time Boyd and he didn’t have time to celebrate, always on the run, never settling anywhere and now he was alone.

Well, he did have Victoria, but he had only been in Kepler for around a week, so they weren’t that close yet. Maybe someday they would be.

He was still studying the pictures when Barclay returned. The other man didn’t say anything, just put the kettle on to make himself a tea and let Ned do his thing.

Ned’s eyes stopped on another picture, it was once again that woman with the duster and Barclay, they were a lot younger on these pictures though, the woman looked around 23 on the picture and Barclay around 20. They stood in front of Amnesty Lodge, Barclay on the woman's back and both of them with wide grins on their faces.

The kettle whistled and Barclay suddenly stood next to Ned, nursing a cup of what smelled like peppermint tea.

“You and your wife look really happy,” Ned said, without looking away from the pictures and to his surprise, Barclay started laughing.

It was a nice sound, soft and deep.

“Did I say something wrong?” Ned smiled out while turning towards the man next to him, who was still trying to control his laughter.

“No, of course not,” Barclay chuckled, his laughter slowly dying down. “It’s just whenever someone mentions Madeleine as my wife I have to think about how horrible that would be and it makes me laugh”

“Why would that be so horrible?” Ned questioned, a smile tugging on his face as he saw the other man laugh. He was a handsome man and seeing handsome people laugh made them usually more attractive to Ned.

Barclay stared into his cup after his laughter died down. A small smile still tugging at his lips and he mumbled, “Madeleine is wonderful and I love her very much, she’s just not really my cup of tea. If you catch my drift” with those words, Barclay looked up again and watched Ned’s face intently, seeing how realization flickered over his face. Said face that was aged nicely, he had small crows feet, a sign of a life filled with laughter and Barclay asked himself what that laughter might sound like.

Those words painted a smile on Ned’s face, “So, you’re just gonna out yourself to a stranger in a small town. How do you know I’m not a weird aggressive homophobe?”

Barclay turned and stared Ned down. “I saw your rainbow lanyard when you put the keys to your truck away and even if you would be, I have ways of dealing with those kinds of-” he looked up at the ceiling as if he was trying to find the word he was looking for written on the boards, “-specimen.”

“You threatening to beat me up, Master Chef?” Ned grinned out and took a small step closer towards the other man, who still stood at least half a foot taller than Ned.

“You don’t seem to be a threat to me in that way, just mentioning that I could if I had to”

Ned looked him up and down, just to stop at Barclay’s eyes again to whisper, “I don’t doubt it”

They were close now, very close, almost uncomfortably. But it felt right and just as Ned wanted to throw all caution in the wind and just kiss the pretty cook, leave in the morning to never see him again, Barclay took an abrupt step backwards, putting his hands onto the counter, next to his empty cup of tea. “Sorry, I still have to do some things in my room, let me show you where yours is, so you can get settled in.”

Barclay’s voice was tight, it had lost the softness from earlier, shifting into an uncomfortable and almost awkward sounding tone.

Ned downed the rest of his whiskey and nodded. “Sure thing, show me the way”

Barclay lead Ned into one of the guest wings and to the last door to the right, he opened the door, that had a small golden “14” on it and showed Ned the room.

It was a little bigger than usual hotel rooms, in the back corner was a second door, leading towards a bathroom. The entire room was furnished with handmade furniture. A king size bed stood in the middle of the room, a dark green comforter on top of the thick mattress and it looked extremely comfortable to Ned.

“If you want breakfast tomorrow morning, it starts at 7 am, just come down to the lobby, when you’re up and I’ll show you where to go,” Barclay mentioned while handing Ned the key to the room. “Sleep well, Ned.”

“You too” Ned mumbled after the tall man, that was walking away from him, without looking back.

Ned got settled in quickly, just stripped down to his boxers and went straight to bed, after quickly washing his face.

The comforter smelled of pinewood and detergent. With those two fragrances in his nose and a certain someone on his mind, Ned fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

 

 

Ned woke up slowly, stretching a little before even opening his eyes. He actually didn’t want to get up, the bed was very comfortable and he hadn’t slept that well in months. But he decided to open his eyes and as his vision adjusted to the light in the room, he noticed what he was looking at.

Ned woke up staring into the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun. As his eyes focused on the man behind the shotgun, he saw Barclay. His face was expressionless, but it didn’t carry any warmth. His eyes were cold.

“If this is about me trying to hit on you yesterday, then I’m sorry” Ned mumbled, not actually realising how real this threat was.

Ned had hoped that he could have coaxed at least the smallest smile out of the other man, but he didn’t. Barclay’s jaw clenched and he aimed clearly at Ned’s face. “What are you and what do you want?”

“What?” Ned sat up, not really comprehending Barclay’s questions.

“How did you do it and what do you want? How did you stop it?”

With that, Ned looked directly into Barclay’s eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about and right now the only thing I really want is for you to take that fucking shotgun out of my face and tell me what you think I am and what the fuck you think I did,”

Barclay slowly lowered the shotgun, fear mixing with the questioning glint in his eyes. While Barclay lowered it, Ned lifted his hands up, to show that he wasn’t going to try anything stupid. When the shotgun was down on the floor, Barclay looked at Ned and in an act of almost inhuman speed, Barclay grabbed one of Ned’s hands and poked his thumb with the sharp edge of a knife

As crimson red blood leaked from the wound, Barclay’s entire face changed. His eyes widened, his mouth agape and his hands a little shaky. He pulled a tissue out of his pocket and wrapped it around Ned’s finger.

 

“Oh fuck, I’m so sorry, I thought you were an abomination. Oh god, I’m so sorry” Barclay started muttering apologies and if Ned was honest with himself, it was kinda cute. Well, it would have been if that man hadn’t just shoved a shotgun in his face before cutting into his thumb.

“The only thing that's abominable about me are my jokes, but I wouldn’t call myself an abomination” Ned joked and the small half smile that Barclay gave him was worth it.

“But seriously, what’s going on?” 

Barclay looked up from Ned’s finger and straight into his eyes. “Time has stopped and from what I can tell, we’re the only ones that aren’t frozen in place right now”

 

* * *

  
  


It was around 20 minutes later, Ned was dressed and was sitting at the kitchen table, while Barclay was pacing around the room. Ned was nursing a cup of tea while holding his head in his right hand. He was just watching Barclay, who was running his hands through his hair while chewing on a pencil, that he used to write down things on a piece of paper on the kitchen table. Right now, the only words on it were:

Ned Chicane?

Abomination?

Stopped time?

Ned couldn’t really say that those words gave him comfort, but he understood why Barclay was so nervous. Outside it was still dark, the clocks didn’t tick and everything was just a little too quiet. The only sound was Barclay’s footsteps and his muttering.

“Barclay, could you please sit down? You’re making me crazy,” Ned said as carefully as he could, trying not to spook the taller man.

The other man looked up at those words and took a deep breath before sitting down. “We need to find whatever is doing this to us, Ned. It might be hurting people right now. God, I wish I could talk to Madeleine about this, ask her if she knows anything, but she’s frozen in time, just like everyone else. What are we supposed to do, Ned?”

They sat there, at the kitchen table. Two fools, stuck in time, with no idea what to do.

“Who you ask when no one is around to answer?” Ned asked the silence in the room.

The silence didn’t answer, neither did Barclay, but they didn’t have to because, at that moment, Ned had an idea.

“Does Kepler have a library?” he asked enthusiastically while staring at Barclay.

“I think so, I saw one close to the general store, but Ned it’s in the middle of the night and that ain’t gonna change soon”

Ned’s grin grew a little, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Oh Barclay, my friend, don’t you worry yourself over locked doors. Haven’t stopped me before, won’t stop me now.”

With those words, Ned jumped up and waited for Barclay to follow suit.

And he did.

  
  
  
  



	2. Questions and Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is pretty short, I just had the feeling it was better to update quickly than to let everyone wait

Barclay hated this. He hated that he was standing in front of Kepler’s library, in the middle of the night, keeping watch so that the man that was sitting on his knees in front of Barclay could break into the back door undetected.

 

Ned had said that if time was really stopped, it wouldn’t matter if Barclay kept watch or not, no one was going to show up, but Barclay didn’t want to risk the abomination sneaking up on them, just because they weighed themselves in fake confidence.

 

Ned started humming quietly, while he was unlocking the door. As Barclay noticed that he was humming “Behind that closed door” by George Harrison, he didn’t know if he should laugh or shove the man.

 

But before he could make a decision Ned stood up and the door swung open. “After you, my dear Sir” Ned smiled out while gesturing for Barclay to go in and that’s when Barclay made his decision, he let out a small snort while walking past the other. 

 

Kepler’s public library was like many things in Kepler pretty modest, it had multiple rooms that were filled to the brim with books, from children’s stories to the most gruesome thrillers. It smelled of old books, a carpet that needed replacing and some off brand air freshener, that just made the carpet smell worse. 

The two men stood there for a moment, they noticed that they didn’t really have a concrete plan other than breaking into the library to get some answers. 

  
“How about we use the computers to find anything before we try to look through thousands of books without knowing what to look for?” Ned suggested and Barclay just nodded, moving towards the two computers that stood close to each other.

 

Once the computers booted up, which took some time, Barclay and Ned sat down to begin their search. 

 

Barclay started googling the most obvious things. 

‘Time stopping’ was the first thing he tried, but he only got a page about stochastic. 

‘Stopped time’ Stochastic again, and some book. 

‘Time anomaly’ that brought him to a fucking world of Warcraft website. 

 

Barclay pinched the bridge of his nose and stole a glance at Ned, it didn’t look like he was finding anything either. So Barclay tried again, but phrasing it differently. 

 

‘Met someone, time stopped’

 

And that time, he actually found something that was at least interesting to look at. It was a video, a small documentary from what it looked like.

 

“The time stopping capabilities of Soulmate Energy”

 

Barclay stared at the title, his heart skipping a beat for a reason he couldn’t pinpoint and before he could stop himself, he pressed play. 

 

A man appeared on the screen, his face pointy and slim, brown hair styled upwards and a smile on his lips. 

Under the man appeared a small banner, proclaiming the words:  _ Dr David Johnson. Expert of historical human interaction.  _

 

The video played a piece of short intro music and at the sound Ned turned towards Barclay’s screen, opening his mouth to say something but stopping himself as a female voice from behind the camera started talking. 

 

“So, Dr Johnson could you please tell us about your research in what you like to call ‘The soulmate department’?” 

 

“Of course,” the man spoke with a Scottish accent, his voice sharp but soothing. “Well, from the beginning of human documentation, we have found journals or documentation of what we call soulmates. Nowadays soulmates don’t appear as often anymore, from our estimations there are only around 1000 soulmate couples per generation now, when back in the middle ages, for example, we saw thousands of records proclaiming soulmates. We don’t know if these records are a hundred per cent accurate of course, but we have to use what we have been given.” 

 

Barclay and Ned didn’t say anything, the silence heavy between them, the only sound the two voices from the video. 

 

“So, what happens in these soulmate meetings that you mentioned in your book?” 

 

“From what we’ve learned, most soulmates experience a time anomaly, from the moment they meet, time stops and only the two soulmates are ‘awake’ in said time.”

 

“How long do these anomalies last?” the female voice asked. 

 

“This depends on the energy in the love of the two people, I know most of what I saw sounds like absolute hogwash, but it’s true. Some soulmates that we studied were only stuck in it for around 4 sleep cycles, so around 4 days. But we had some whose anomaly lasted almost a month.”

 

A month?! Barclay swallowed and while he did, he heard Ned inhale sharply.

 

“I’m glad you realise that this sounds unbelievable, so why did you start to study it?”

 

The man smiled softly, turning a ring on his finger. “That’s easy, my husband and I are soulmates and I wanted to figure out more.”

 

That's the moment that Barclay stops the video. But even though the video was stopped both of them didn’t move their eyes from the screen, too scared to look at the person that was supposed to be their soulmate, terrified of a truth that they could not understand. 

 

“So,” Ned started, his voice barely above a whisper. “Soulmates, huh?”

 

Barclay nodded. “I guess so.” 

 

Ned snorted softly. “So should I propose now, because from what I heard it’s inevitable, or do you want me to drag it out?” 

 

That made Barclay laugh and not just a little bit, he laughed with his hand over his mouth, trying to stifle it, but he couldn’t. “You really are something else, Ned,” he said after calming down. 

 

Barclay looked over at Ned and saw the man was carrying a smile of his own, his shoulders were relaxed, for the first time since they found themselves in this predicament. Well, it wasn’t really a predicament anymore, now was it? It was destiny. 

 

* * *

  
  
  


They didn’t talk on their way outside, or in the car or when Barclay parked the car in front of Amnesty Lodge. The truth of the matter hung over them. They had made jokes about it in the library, but now it set in. 

 

They were meant for each other. 

 

In some weird trick of the universe, these two men were supposed to find each other, be stuck with each other and then hopelessly and recklessly fall in love and even though Ned thought that Barclay was attractive, he had never really been in a relationship, well a stable relationship. 

 

But when he looked at Barclay as turned off the car and smiled carefully at him, he was willing to try. 


	3. Revelations

Ned was sitting on a couch in the foyer of Amnesty Lodge. He was thumbing through a magazine about snowboarding, something that had never interested him and he knew he was just trying to distract himself from the man that was walking around the room, cleaning up the lobby without a care in the world. As if they hadn’t just been hit with a revelation that changed both of their lives forever. 

 

“So,” he started and Barclay stopped in his tracks and looked at. “I suppose I should find my way back to the Cryptonomica, don’t want to stink up your air for any longer.” 

 

“Wait you’re leaving?” Barclay rose to his full height and Ned noticed how tall Barclay actually was. The man was at least a head taller than he was and Ned was already a tall man.

 

“Yeah, I thought, you might want me to.”

 

“Oh yeah, of course, how could I be so dumb,” Barclay said, sarcasm dripping off of his words. “Why would I ever want to spend time with the man that I just noticed is my soulmate. No, how about we spend the month of stopped time alone in our separate houses, ignoring what is obviously fate. Real good plan, Ned.”

 

While Barclay spoke, he noticed something. Actually, he noticed multiple things, he noticed how Barclay’s legs trembled, his hand gripping the feather duster hard enough that his knuckles turned white. His eyebrows were knitted together and his jaw clenched. 

When Ned didn’t say anything, Barclay dropped onto the next chair and let his head fall into his hands. He let out a deep sigh and wiped his hand over his exhausted face. “I’m sorry, Ned. I-” he looked up at Ned, his eyes held a sadness, that Ned couldn’t place. “I know that you are scared, hell I’m fucking terrified, but I think this could be good. This could work,” his eyes met Ned’s. “I guess it’s supposed to and we can try and run from this, but in the end, it’s just going to make us miserable if we do, so, please. Please stay.” 

 

That’s when Ned placed the emotion in Barclay’s eyes. Fear. But not just plain old fear, fear of abandonment.

  
“I’ll stay, but only if you let me grab some clothes of mine from the Cryptonomica. I really don’t want to wear the same shirt over the next month,” Ned tried to reassure the man, who visibly relaxed when he said it.

  
“The Cryptonomica? You know in all my time in Kepler, I have never been,” Barclay mentioned and Ned knew what he was doing, but played it off.

 

“You wanna come? I mean it’s not real or anything but it’s fun to get a kick out of the stuff we have there.” 

 

Barclay’s face had a smirk on it, and rolled his eyes when Ned said that it wasn’t real. It wasn’t in annoyance, more in a joking manner, but Ned noticed.

 

“Don’t tell me you believe all that Mothman,” he gestured wildly in the air, “all that Bigfoot crap.”

 

Barclay let out a soft laugh. “I think, given the circumstances, I kind of have to Ned.”

 

Even though Ned really wanted to know what the fuck he meant by that, he didn’t push the issue, instead standing up and stretching. 

  
“Shall we then?” 

 

“Absolutely”

* * *

  
  
  


Ned was never going to admit it, but if Barclay hadn’t joined him on his way to the Cryptonomica, he probably wouldn’t have found his way. He wasn’t going to say it, but with that devilish smile that Barclay had on his face, he guessed that the taller man already knew. 

 

He parked the car in the small parking lot in front of the museum and got out, Barclay following close behind. “So since when have you been working here, Ned?” the man asked while Ned unlocked the front door to the shop. 

 

“Since I got into town, so just about a week,” he pushed open the door, walked in and switched on the light. “Welcome to the Cryptonomica, Barclay. Place of taxidermy abominations and bad photography, can I interest you in a pin?” Ned joked, picking up a pin from the cash register and throwing it at Barclay, who caught it in mid-air. 

  
Said pin had a Bigfoot silhouette on it and big red letters reading “Bigfoot is real and he’s my boyfriend.”

 

Barclay started laughing, a full body laugh that made him bend over while holding his sides. 

  
Ned smiled, listening to the sound and enjoying it very much. Barclay laugh was a sound that he was almost magically drawn to, it made him feel warm and soft. It made him feel at home. 

 

Barclay wiped his eyes as he finished laughing and smiled at Ned. “We really need to talk about some things before we can start this whole soulmate ordeal, Ned.” 

 

“Sure thing, Barclay, let me just quickly grab my stuff and then we can talk okay?” 

 

Barclay just nodded and Ned walked into the supply room, grabbing his small backpack and filling it with everything he owned, which were precisely two hoodies, three shirts and a five boxer shorts. 

  
He walked back out and saw Barclay stand in front of the Bigfoot exhibit. It looked like he was studying the notes and maps carefully, not wanting to miss any info. 

  
“You interested in Bigfoot?” Ned questioned, walking up next to Barclay. 

 

“I wouldn’t call it that. More interested in this side of the story,” Barclay mumbled and now Ned was kind of annoyed. Barclay was talking about this in such a weird way that Ned couldn’t place what he meant.

  
“Barclay, I can only guess what you’re implying and honestly that raises more questions than answers, so please will you just tell me, why you’re being so weird right now?” Ned pressed, not aggressively, or mean, but just confused.

 

Barclay stood up straight once again, he had to bend down to read the displays. “Well, Ned. I think it’s important that I tell you about what I really am,” he moved away from Ned a little bit, smiling at him softly. “And Ned? Promise you won’t freak out?” 

 

Ned only nodded, as he watched the man in front of him take off a hemp bracelet and in seconds, the man in front of him disappeared, replaced by an even taller figure. Barclay was Bigfoot. Ned had to sit down. 

 

And he did exactly that, he sat down right there on the floor. He didn’t speak, he just stared at Bigfoot. Not actually believing it was Barclay until Bigfoot spoke. 

“Are you okay, Ned? I know it’s a lot to take in and I understand if this makes you uncomfortable, but I needed to be honest.”   
  


“You’re Bigfoot.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. “You are the actual fucking Bigfoot,” Ned mumbled, still staring at Barclay. 

 

“Yes, yes I am.” Bigfoot fidgeted with his hands, while Ned looked at him. “Can I get you anything, Ned? Can I help you somehow to make this easier?” 

 

With those words, he noticed that yes, Barclay was Bigfoot, but he was still the same. He was still the same kind of awkward man, worried about Ned’s safety and health, even though he just told him his biggest secret.    
  
“No, no friend Barclay. I’m fine, just give me a moment to process this.” Ned said, still staring at the man, who put his bracelet back on, turning back into the normal Barclay. 

 

It took Ned five minutes until he stood up. “Okay, I’m good now. You’re Bigfoot and I guess Cryptids are real? Fuck today has been a long day.”    
  


Barclay smiled as he started to walk out of the Cryptonomica. “It really has been, how about we drive back to Amnesty Lodge and I whip us up some Lunch?” 

 

Ned followed after him, his backpack slung over his shoulder, turning off the light behind him and locking the door. “That sounds good.” 

  
They got to the car and Ned got into the driver's seat. He turned on the car as Barclay climbed into the passenger seat, holding Ned’s backpack on his lap. 

 

And if he carefully put the “Bigfoot is my boyfriend” pin onto Ned’s backpack, while the other was busy driving, no one had to know. 

* * *

  
  


When they got back to Amnesty Lodge, they went straight for the kitchen. Barclay pulling out two pots and filling one of them with water. 

 

“I was thinking spaghetti, thoughts?” Barclay asked, not turning around to look at Ned, who was just sitting down at the table. 

  
“I have a lot of thoughts about spaghetti, but the most important one right now is yes please,” Ned declared. 

 

“Alright,” Barclay smiled out and started to cut some onions. 

 

They fell into an awkward silence, both of them had questions on their lips, that they were afraid to spill. It was only when Barclay dropped the noodles into the boiling water that Ned spoke up. 

 

“I have an idea,” Barclay turned around at the sound of Ned’s voice. “How about, we do a small question game, just to speed up the getting to know each other process a little. How does that sound?” 

 

“I suppose that’s a good idea, we do barely know each other, so do you want to start?” Barclay asked, already guessing what Ned’s first question would be. 

  
“What’s your favourite song?” Ned asked and Barclay’s eyes went wide, that was not the question he had expected. He had expected anything about him or where he came from, but not his favourite song.

 

“Unforgettable by Nat King Cole,” he answered without thinking. 

 

“It’s a beautiful song”   
  


“It is,” Barclay leaned back against the counter and looked around, thinking of a question. “Favourite author?” 

 

Ned threw his head back, looking at the ceiling. “Victor Hugo, I suppose. Favourite movie?” 

 

Barclay snorted. “Oh, you’re gonna laugh at me for this.” 

 

“Come on, spill it.”

 

“You ever heard of Troll 2? That horrible movie from the ’90s?” 

 

Ned had a look of confusion on his face. “The one with the vegetarian trolls? I have heard of it, yes.”   
  


“That one’s my favourite,” Barclay proclaimed proudly. “Have you ever seen it?” 

 

Ned shook his head and Barclay’s eyes lit up. “You wanna watch it? I have it here, we could eat while watching it and while also getting drunk, because you cannot watch that movie sober.” 

 

Ned put his hand on his heart and smiled at Barclay. “I know understand why you’re my soulmate,” he grinned out. 

 

“Fuck off, Chicane.” Barclay rolled his eyes but was still smiling.

 

“Oh you wouldn’t want me to, and also I heard the proposal for a drunk movie night and I wouldn’t leave when a handsome man such as you offered me something that tempting.” 

* * *

  
  


They were halfway into the movie and very drunk.

 

“You gotta be fucking kidding me? This is your favourite movie?” Ned demanded, jabbing his finger at the chuckling mass next to him. “What the fuck is wrong with you Barclay?!” 

 

This made Barclay hide his face behind his hands, still laughing. As he pulled his legs up until he slowly fell off the couch that they had been sharing. He hit the floor softly, still laughing, his sides hurt and he could hardly breathe but he was loving it. 

  
“How in the fuck are you my soulmate if a movie about vegetarian trolls that turn people into plants just to eat them is your favourite movie?!” Ned almost yelled at Barclay, who was still laying on the ground. 

 

Barclay managed to stop laughing, only hiccuping every now and then and Ned noticed how adorable the man on the floor in front of the couch actually was, his hair was messy, his cheeks were a little red from all the laughing and his eyes had tears of laughter running out of them. He was a mess, but god he was a cute one. 

 

“You like it, don’t lie,” the man on the floor teased and grabbed Ned’s hand, who didn’t know what was happening until Barclay had pulled him down onto the floor with him. 

 

As Ned fell onto Barclay, the other man wrapped his arms around Ned and let out a soft sigh.

  
“You’re very comfy,” Ned whispered as he put his head on the man's chest, wrapping his arms around him. 

 

“Well thank you,” Barclay said but it was interrupted by a long yawn. Ned took the opportunity to grab the blanket from the couch, pulling it on top of them and settling down to sleep.

 

“Night Ned,” Barclay muttered, holding on to the shorter man. 

 

“Good night, Barclay,” he whispered back and after a few moments, both of them were fast asleep, Troll 2 still running in the background, the soft moonlight illuminating the room. It was peaceful, comfortable. 

 

It felt like home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone, watch Troll 2. It sucks, it's really really bad but its so much fun
> 
> If you wanna shoot me a message, come over to my [Tumblr!](https://marveldevil.tumblr.com/)


	4. Every thought of it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attempts at omelettes and the truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took so fucking long, I just wasn't in the right headspace to write anything comprehensive.

Ned woke up with a headache, he really shouldn’t have drunk that much last night. WIthout even opening his eyes, he nuzzled deeper into his pillow, which suddenly moved.

 

Ned wanted to pull away, startled by the memory and realisation that yes he had slept on Barclay, using the other man like a pillow and that yes, yesterday actually happened. He had a soulmate and this was all too much. But what really threw him over the edge was that the other man had his arms wrapped tightly around Ned’s frame, holding him close. 

  
“Please don’t move, you’re really warm,” Barclay mumbled, his eyes still closed. “It’s nice.” 

 

Ned looked at the other man, his breath quick and his nerves didn’t really calm down until he took a few deep breaths. 

 

He carefully placed his head back onto Barclay’s chest, relishing in the warmth that the other man emitted and the sheer comfort that he felt, laying in his arms. 

 

They stayed like that for a while, drinking in the comfort that they both felt. That they had craved for such a long time. 

 

As Ned spoke up, he whispered quietly, terrified of bursting the bubble of comfort, of happiness that surrounded them. “I’m grateful, you know?”

 

“Hm?” Barclay made the sound under him, only halfway opening his eyes. 

  
“For you, for taking all those wrong turns. It let me to you, to where I need to be.” 

 

Barclay just smiled and pulled Ned closer to him, giving him a soft kiss on the head before they both fell back asleep. 

* * *

  
  
  


Ned woke up a few hours later and slowly moved out of Barclay’s grasp. The other man was still sleeping deeply, but Ned couldn’t sleep any longer.

 

His stomach was growling and his back started to hurt, so he stood up, stretching to try to get the ache out of his back, it didn’t work, and started to make his way to the kitchen. He figured that if he was gonna spend the rest of his life with this man, the best first impression he could make is to make breakfast. 

 

Which would have been a nice thought, if Ned had not lived off of Microwave meals and Eggo waffles for most of his life so he actually didn’t really know how to make anything. But how hard could an omelette really be? 

 

It turns out, an omelette was harder to make than he thought. The first one he made was just horribly burnt, so he started a second one, he cut up some onions, some bacon and threw it into the mixing bowl with two eggs. 

 

This was burned as well, but not as bad, it was definitely salvageable. 

 

When Ned was on his third omelette, Barclay walked in, his nose scrunched up and his eyebrows furrowed. “Ned, what is that horrible sm-”. He stopped himself when he saw that Ned was trying to cook. So that was that horrible smell. 

 

Barclay moved over to one of the windows and opened it. “So what’s for breakfast?” he asked carefully, he actually didn’t really want to know what was causing that smell and that he was going to have to eat it. 

 

“Well, It’s supposed to be an omelette,” Ned sheepishly admitted, knowing that it just wasn’t good at all. 

 

Barclay slowly moved over and looked into the pan at what Ned was making. “Are those-” he took a closer look. “Ned are those apple slices? In an omelette?” 

 

Ned just dropped the spatula in defeat, his head slowly falling into his palms, before he whispered out a soft:

“Barclay, I’ve never made an omelette in my fucking life.” 

 

The man just snorted and smiled.

  
“I can see that now move so I can actually make an omelette and you can watch, alright?” he slowly moved the man away from the stove, quickly disposing of the two absolute catastrophes in a small bin that was meant for the compost. 

 

“Would you grab the spring onions from the fridge?” Barclay asked while cracking open an egg with one hand, using the other hand to grab a cutting board. 

 

Ned did as he was asked, bringing the onions over. He sat the spring onions down on the cutting board and started cutting them into small pieces.    
  


“Make them just a little smaller, they’re for taste, not texture. Also, would you also grab the shredded cheese and ham?” 

 

Ned quickly went and grabbed the other ingredients before cutting the onions just a tad bit smaller. As he put the knife down, Barclay reached over and grabbed the cutting board, pushing the onions into the mixing bowl. 

 

“Now, if you could cut that ham for me into very small pieces, that would be neat.” 

 

“Will do, Sir,” Ned said and fake saluted, which made the other man laugh out loud.

“Just cut the fucking ham,” He smiled out, without any actual menace. 

 

A few minutes later, the ham and the shredded cheese was added. The omelettes were cooked to the perfect time, Barclay let Ned do this, giving him small tips over the shoulder, while he cleaned the supplies.

 

Ned pushed the Omelettes onto two plates and walked to the table, putting one in front of himself and the other on the opposite side of the table, where Barclay sat down. 

They indulged for a moment in the food they had prepared together until Barclay started speaking. 

“So, did you ever really cook? Don't get me wrong, but an omelette is actually pretty easy.” 

 

Ned swallowed his bite quickly, before responding. “Well, I used to live on the road for most of my life, so there was never really a reason for me to learn how to cook. Most of the time I didn’t really have a kitchen available, so I ate what I could get.”

 

Barclay’s lips curved up into a small smile. “I get that, when I first came to earth, I lived a very similar lifestyle until Madeleine and I built the Lodge.” 

 

Ned put his fork down, he had never asked where Barclay was actually from. He was Bigfoot, so where did he actually come from. Was there a family of Bigfoot’s somewhere?

 

“Barclay? Where exactly are you from?” Ned asked, his voice careful, but at the same time insisting. “I mean, you don’t have to answer. It’s just something that confuses me.”   
  


Barclay picked up his mug of coffee, not looking at Ned. “What confuses you about it?” 

 

“You’re literally Bigfoot,” Ned deadpanned. 

 

Barclay smiled towards his mug. “You’re right, you’re right. I’ll tell you.” 

He swirled his coffee around in his mug for a moment, thinking of where to start. “Well, you see. I’m not from earth-” 

 

“No shit,” Ned interrupted and Barclay looked up with him with small glare in his eyes. 

  
“Anyway, I’m from a place called Sylvain. It’s a place with a variety of different creatures, most of them inspired some of your folklore. Werewolves, Ghosts, Sylphs that could be compared to your ideas of vampires.” 

 

While Barclay was talking, Ned listened intently, the other man not looking at him, his eyes still trained on his coffee. His voice was soft as he spoke about Sylvain, it was filled with love and longing. 

 

“The thing about Sylvain is that Sylvain and Earth are tethered to each other. There is a gate that connects both of our planets, people and Sylphs have been crossing over into each other's worlds for a long time, probably before we even started to count time.

“So, yes, that’s where I am from. I used to be a guard when a friend of mine-” He stopped and let out a small laugh. “-Indrid Cold, you know? The Mothman?” 

 

Ned quickly nodded, a smile tugging at his lips, now that Barclay actually looked at him again, even if it didn’t last long, his eyes were quickly trained back onto his mug. 

 

“Well anyway, Indrid told me that he saw a future for me, a future far away from our home. But my time was dwindling, the gate was going to move soon and I had to go through it there, or something horrible would happen.” 

 

He took a shuddering breath. “And so I left, Indrid actually left with me. A few weeks later, Sylvain was attacked by humans. Indrid told me that I would have died in the attack. He saved my life, but for that, we were both exiled. Never to return to Sylvain.”

 

As he looked up and into Ned’s eyes, he saw that Barclay’s eyes were wet, a few shimmering lines of tears went down his cheeks.

“Since then they only let me go back once. When Madeleine and I founded the Pine Guard. I wasn’t allowed to actually go and see anyone. I haven’t seen my family in a very long time.” 

 

With that Barclay stopped. His hands were trembling and not really knowing how to react, Ned started speaking. 

  
“I’m from a small town in Michigan, it wasn’t a glorious upbringing, but I had what I needed. Well, I had it until I was 17. My mother caught me kissing my best friend, a boy called Damien. From that moment on, everything went to shit.”

 

He started fiddling with his hands, not looking at Barclay. “My mother told my dad, who first beat me, before throwing me out. I was 17, I had nothing to my name except around 100 dollars and some clothes that I had put into my duffle bag.

  
“I stole my dad’s old truck, he didn’t use it for anything, because he had a new car, but I stole it. And I took off.

 

“I had nothing, so I started stealing, I lived out of my car most of the time, stealing small stuff from rich people that wouldn’t miss a hundred dollars if they lost them. I had no one. I was alone.”

 

He felt tears flee his eyes at that moment, he never had to tell his life story to anyone. No one ever actually cared enough about him to hear it. 

 

But now he was sitting across from the man that was his destined partner, the man that right now, reached out and grabbed his hand. Intertwining their fingers carefully.

 

“You’re not alone anymore, Ned Chicane. Not anyone.” 


	5. And then you see the stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long.

When Ned woke up the next ‘day’, you can hardly call them days when time doesn’t actually pass, and Barclay wasn’t in the kitchen. 

 

Ned rubbed his eyes and saw a mug of coffee on the table, still warm, with a note with his name on it. He felt his lips curl up in a soft smile as he took it and took a sip. It was exactly how he liked it, two sugars and just a small dash of milk. He took the coffee gratefully, smiling at the fact that his soulmate already knew him so well. 

 

It had been around twenty days, Ned would have guessed and they all had been pleasant. They ate dinner every night together, always prepared by Barclay after one small accident that had cost the Amnesty Kitchen a towel, that was burned beyond recognition. 

 

Sometimes they watched movies together from Barclay’s awful collection, which Ned kind of started to love, but he would never ever tell the other man that. 

Some days, they didn’t see each other at all until dinner, Barclay off doing his own thing, while Ned spend that time in the library, reading the books he always wanted to read, but never found the time too, sometimes he went to the Cryptonomica, cleaning the small museum or reorganising the pamphlets by the counter. 

 

They enjoyed the time they spend together a lot, but they still needed their space, they might be connected on a level so deep that most people would never be able to understand it, but they still needed their own time. Time away from another.

  
This was one of those days. Barclay was gone before Ned woke up and Ned was a little grateful for their separate rooms, he was a light sleeper and he guessed that if Barclay got up that early, he had to as well. 

 

In these moments he was grateful for their separate rooms, but most of the time, he didn’t like it that much, he had only once slept next to Barclay and that was while drunk on the floor on their first night. 

 

Well, he did take naps now and then, putting his feet in Barclay’s lap when they were sitting on the same couch, but that was nowhere near the things that Ned wanted, but he wasn’t going to push it. Soulmate or not, they hadn’t known each other for long and Ned didn’t want to make the taller man uncomfortable. 

 

He was content with waiting for the other man. 

 

As he took a sip from his coffee, he walked over to the cupboard, taking out some eggo waffles and popping them into the toaster.  While he waited for them to heat up, he busied himself with doing the dishes from yesterday evening. He had felt bad that Barclay always had to cook and then also did the dishes, so they came to the agreement that Barclay would cook and Ned would do the dishes. 

 

It worked well, and if it made both of them feel like an old married couple, they weren’t going to mention it. 

  
  
  


After his easy breakfast, Ned spent his day one of the armchairs in the lobby of the lodge, his legs over one of the armrests, his back against the other. In his hands was an old edition of Lady Windermere’s Fan that he had taken from the library the day before. 

He had just started Act IV and knew he was going to finish the play before he went to bed that day when the door to the Lobby opened and Barclay was standing in the doorway. 

  
“Hey Barclay, how was your-” Ned’s words died in his throat as he looked up at Barclay. The man looked good, his hair was brushed and he was wearing a white dress shirt and dark jeans. 

 

“Hey Ned, my day was good, I hope you don’t have plans for the rest of the night, because I have some that might be interesting.” Barclay’s hands were shaking ever so slightly and he was avoiding eye contact with Ned, who just smiles when he saw the other man so nervous. 

 

“I don’t have any plans and even if I did, I’d cancel them if it meant getting to spend time with a good looking man like yourself,” Ned smirked before he looked Barclay up and down again. He suddenly felt very self-conscious about his (well it was Barclay’s but Ned had stolen it from him) dark green flannel. “Should I change?” 

 

Barclay shook his head and held out his hand to Ned, who took it, pulling himself from the chair in the process.    
  


As they walked to the truck, they kept holding on. 

 

* * *

  
  


They had been driving for a few minutes when Barclay suddenly took a turn and drove straight into the forest. 

“If you wanted to kill me, you didn’t have to drive all the way out here,” Ned joked and Barclay smiled softly. 

  
“But if I don’t do it in the forest, how are the authorities gonna know it was BIgfoot?” Barclay joked back. 

  
“Good point,” Ned admitted, not even a little bit concerned for his safety. “So why are you taking me into the forest this fine night, dear?” 

 

“You’ll see in a minute, darling.” 

 

And he did. 

  
Barclay parked the truck when the road stopped and got out, waiting for Ned to join him out of the car, before he slowly started walking through a few trees.

  
They came to a clearing and on this clearing was a big tartan picnic blanket, a picnic basket on it, accompanied with a few blankets and pillows. 

 

Each of the corners of the picnic blanket was decorated with a lantern, all of them had big candles in them, that were waiting to be lit.

 

“Did you do this?” Ned whispered out, worried that asking about it, might make it disappear. 

  
The man next to him scratched the back of his neck and if Ned would have looked over, instead of staring at the picnic blanket, he would have seen that Barclay's cheeks were a dark red. “Well yeah, spend all day on it actually.” 

 

Ned squeezed Barclay’s hand in a sign of gratefulness. “It’s beautiful” 

 

The other man coughed softly and started to move towards the picnic basket. “Shall we eat?” 

 

Ned nodded and moved over to the picnic blanket. 

 

They shared the snacks that Barclay had prepared while laughing, telling each other stories and jokes and when they finished eating they laid down beside each other. Staring at the stars. 

 

He had always liked the stars after he ran away from home, they were the only thing that he had left, ever-changing but always the same, so he lost himself in them, while the man beside him, lost himself in Ned’s face.

 

Ned saw the stars, and they were beautiful. 

And then, there were gone. 

 

Replaced by the handsome face of his soulmate that kissed him carefully. It had been their first kiss, shared tenderly under the West Virginia sky, while the wind sang soft melodies into the leaves. 

 

“Thank you,” Barclay whispered after they separated and Ned surged up to steal another kiss. 

 

“I should thank you, you were the one who prepared all of this.” 

 

They smiled at each other, both of them drinking in the love that was all around them, unspoken but there.

  
And if the stars shined brighter that night, who was to say? 

  
  


They had returned from their picnic, holding hands and giggling. They behaved like teenagers, but it was alright, no one was there to see them anyway, so they didn’t feel judged. They were happy and that was all that mattered. 

 

As they walked into the kitchen, Barclay grabbed the picnic basket from Ned, who poured both of them a glass of soda. 

 

Normally he would take care of the washing up, but Barclay had insisted on doing it this time, saying something about that he made the mess and that it was a special day, Ned had only halfway listened, staring at Barclay’s lips the entire time, until the man finally took pity on him and kissed him once more. 

 

So Ned put on some Nat King Cole and watched the other man do the dishes, while he drank his soda. 

 

He watched the small bubbles of air move up to the surface of his glass, listening to the soft crackling sounds that it made before he decided to break the silence.    
  
“Thank you, again. That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Ned admitted, looking into his glass rather than at Barclay. 

 

“Don’t mention it, I wanted to,” Barclay replied without even looking back at him. 

 

And while Nat King Cole sang the words to  _ “Unforgettable”  _ the crooked finally found the words that he wanted to say. “I love you, Barclay,” he said, and the second he said it, it felt like a thousand-pound weight fell off his back, and he looked up to see the man in front of him turn around.

“I love you too, Ned,” he replied, with a soft smile. 

 

They grinned at each other and Ned went to take a sip of his coke, only to be met with the surprising taste of whiskey. 

 

He spat the entire sip everywhere, and it would have been funny if it weren't so meaningful. 

 

And when he calmed down, he heard it. The clock was ticking again. Time was running. 

 

Barclay only stretched out his hand, an invitation to take it. 

 

“Let’s go to bed, we can clean this up tomorrow,” he smiled and Ned took his hand and was lead out of the kitchen into Barclay’s room. 

 

And even though they had been sharing a room for a while now, even shared a bed, it was different this time, because this time, they were woken up, by soft murmurs coming from around the Lodge, woken up by the sun shining into their faces.

 

Their new life had only just begun.

  
  


* * *

  
  


That morning, Mama walked into the kitchen, seeing the Picnic basket and smiling to herself.

  
“You finally found him then, huh? Good for you, Barclay,” she whispered to herself, while she took to cleaning the plates. 

 

They deserved to sleep in, she could meet his soulmate later. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna try to update this as quickly as I possibly can!


End file.
